Peter Dimmock

Peter Harold Moss Dimmock (6 December 1920 – 20 November 2015) was a British sports broadcaster, television producer and television executive for the BBC. He began his career as a racing correspondent for the Press Association before joining the BBC as a producer and commentator at their Outside Broadcasts television department, working on almost 2,000 outside broadcasts. Dimmock was the first host of the BBC's long-running Grandstand and of the BBC Sports Review of the Year awards and the weekly live sports programme Sportsview from 1954 to 1964. He was assistant head of outside broadcasts from 1949 before becoming its head in 1954 until 1972, securing broadcast agreements for boxing, cricket, ice hockey, rugby, swimming and tennis and major state events. Dimmock worked at the American network American Broadcasting Company (ABC) as the vice-president of Worldwide Syndication and Marketing for ABC Sports and later as the director of the cable and satellite sports channel ESPN from 1984 to 1990. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and Commander of the Victorian Order (CVO).

Early life and war service Dimmock was born on 6 December 1920 in Brixton, London. He was the son of the electrical engineer Frederick Moss Dimmock and his wife Ruby Pauline Sterling . When the Second World War broke out, Dimmock joined the Royal Army Service Corps, a territorial unit, and served as a driver. He returned to the BBC in May of that year as a producer and commentator at their Outside Broadcasts television department at Alexandra Palace, His first job was on a golf match at Alexandra Palace, introduced the first television coverage of Royal Ascot in 1947, and helped to arrange 70 hours of television coverage of the 1948 London Olympics, The following year he provided commentary on the University Boat Race between Cambridge and Oxford, In 1950, he produced coverage of the BBC's first televised test cricket match at Trent Bridge. He travelled to New York City to study American programmes and organising remote pick-ups on television.

Dimmock produced programmes such as Television Sports Magazine, a series of programmes for the Come Dancing series (he also compered editions of the programme) that were broadcast within the first three months of 1952, the monthly series Television Icetime in 1954. As assistant head of outside broadcasts, He provided commentary on the 1953 British Games at White City Stadium, London, the final races of the fourth match of the 1953 International Speedway series between England and Scotland at Motherwell Speedway, and an international swimming gala of continental champions against British champions in January 1954.

He launched a televisual coverage from April 1954 in front of the cameras as the regular presenter of a new live weekly sport news programme Sportsview (which became Sportsnight in 1968), with what would be a long-running Speedway series. In its first year the series featured Roger Bannister's record breaking four-minute mile run. and was eager to publicise it by the installation of large placards fitted to the sides of commercial helicopters hired by the BBC to transport film to Lime Grove Studios. the youngest person to lead a BBC department at the time. and helped with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh's first television broadcast in The Restless Sphere: The Story of the International Geophysical Year that same year. Dimmock took part in the 1958 Monte Carlo Rally as the co-driver of a Humber Hawk, and again in 1959 and 1960, both times driving a Ford Zephyr. Dimmock presented the afternoon programme Junior Sportsview for viewers between the ages of 10 and 15 in 1956, and fronted the first two programmes of the Saturday afternoon rolling sports programme Grandstand in October 1958 before handing over to David Coleman, but staying as producer. The cab he shared with Tony Brooks and co-driver Bob Gerard retired with gearbox problems in the Central French mountains. That same year, Dimmock travelled to Moscow and successfully negotiated with the State Committee of Television and Radio Broadcasting of the Soviet Union the broadcast of the country's May Day Parade to Britain.

In February 1962, he was sued by the boxer John Caldwell for alleged libel over comments Dimmock made during an edition of Sportsview. Two months later, Dimmock was appointed chairman of the BBC/ITV Satellite Programme Committee, and was part of an "inner cabinet" to deal with the issue of planning two programmes prior to the launch of BBC2. In 1963, Dimmock became liaison officer for the BBC to the British royal family, holding the position until 1977. and was a judge at Miss World 1969, He continued to lead the Outside Broadcasts department until September 1972 and became general manager of BBC Radio and Television Enterprises at Villiers House, Ealing. Dimmock oversaw the promotion of television and radio programmes, BBC records, merchandise and an increase in the department's pre-tax profits from £700,000 to £1,250,000 by streamlining ways of administration and marketing. In April of that year, Dimmock accepted an offer from his friend Roone Arledge to join the television department of the American network American Broadcasting Company (ABC). From 1984 to 1990, Dimmock was the director of ESPN, the American cable and satellite sports channel, and he was later moved to Monaco to become the managing director of ABC Sports International before it was absorbed into ABC Video Enterprises Division. Dimmock was the author of the Sportsview Annual from 1954 to 1965, the marriage was not mentioned in Dimmock's entry in Who's Who. On 8 June 1990 Dimmock married the widow Christabel Rosamund Bagge.

Awards He received various awards during his lifetime. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1961 New Year Honours, and made a Commander of the Victorian Order (CVO) in 1968 for easing relations between the Royal Family and the BBC. Dimmock was elected a Freeman of the City of London in 1977,